When it comes to online resources for parents and caregivers of children, there’s a cacophony of “expert” voices vying for your attention on the internet and it can be hard to know where to focus your attention when you’re looking for advice. At Yellowbrick, we’re making it a priority to sift through the thousands of advice resources on the internet to bring you the ones we think are “gold standards” for parents and communities doing their best to raise socially responsible kids. Here’s our latest round-up of Yellowbrick Gold Medalists, with a little information on why we love them and what they do so well. Congratulations to our first round of winners!…

Founded by educator and author, Rosalind Wiseman, Cultures of Dignity seeks to amplify the voices of young people in the discussion about their emotional and physical wellbeing. The site’s Blog and Ms. Wiseman’s books are excellent resources for anyone interested in the academic, social and emotional complexities of young adolescence. We particularly loved their guest blog piece from author Dr. Staci Schwartz about her book, “I’ve Got Your Back: Help Children Say Hello to Friends & Goodbye to Bullies.”

You may have already seen her wildly viral post, “The silent tragedy affecting today’s children,” and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Her website is full of excellent content to help parents think about their own behavior in relation to their child’s life skill learning. We love her advice! Everything from tips on teaching them how to be bored (delayed gratification skills!) to short videos on how to get children to be responsible and independent.

We love the refreshing perspective of Lenore Skenazy. Her Free-Range Kids website is full of information about how not to fall into the trap of believing there’s constant danger to our kids lurking around every corner. You know what’s true? The crime rate is lower than it’s been in decades. But we’re hovering over our kids (and ruining them!) because the media has us scared silly. Her site is full of information and tools to help us raise safe, self-reliant children (“without going nuts with worry”). Awesome site, and she gets rave reviews for her speaking engagements!

We know the mainstream media inundates girls and women with sexist and undermining messages about their worth. The mission of MEDIAGIRLS is to teach middle school girls and young women how to use social media to share their authentic selves, post positive content, develop their critical thinking skills, and take a stand on meaningful issues. This site includes free resources and activities to help parents and educators engage kids in discussion about how media influences our attitudes and using social media to speak up for ourselves and others.

This site is full of tools to help parents and caregivers teach caring, compassion, self-care, helpfulness, responsibility and respect throughout our schools, communities and homes. World Kindness Day is coming up – November 13th! – so come up with a family plan! Become “RAKtivists”! Imagine what the world could be like if we would ask ourselves one simple question before we react – “What is the kind thing to do in this situation?”

That’s our first round of Gold Medalists! We’re already collecting nominations for our next group of winners. Want to tell us about a site you love that should be mentioned in our next list? Let us know about it! Email us at [email protected], tweet us at @myyellowbrick, or send us a Facebook message at https://www.facebook.com/yellowbrick.me/

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Teaching Our Children to Be Allies

November 27, 2017

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